Dan Povenmire Family Guy When did Dan Povenmire start drawing Family Guy? Povenmire later became a director on Family Guy, starting with the season two episode, "Road to Rhode Island Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? Povenmire brought realism and material from his own experiences to the visual direction of Family Guy. What other things did he do when he was working on Family Guy? Povenmire drew on his childhood in the Deep South to create and sequence a background scene in which the redneck character nonchalantly kicks a corpse into the nearby river. When did he stop working on Family Guy? During Family Guy's brief cancellation, Povenmire was offered a job as storyboard director of the series SpongeBob SquarePants.
Did he write the storyline for Family Guy?
Did Dan Povenmire write the storyline for Family Guy?
Povenmire later became a director on Family Guy, starting with the season two episode, "Road to Rhode Island". Creator Seth MacFarlane granted Povenmire substantial creative freedom. Povenmire recalled that MacFarlane would tell him "We've got two minutes to fill. Give me some visual gags. Do whatever you want. I trust you." Povenmire praised MacFarlane's management style for letting him "have [...] fun."  Povenmire brought realism and material from his own experiences to the visual direction of Family Guy. For "One if By Clam, Two if By Sea" (August 1, 2001), several characters demonstrate Fosse-like moves in prison. To correctly depict the moves, Povenmire asked color artist Cynthia MacIntosh, who had been a professional dancer, to strike poses so he could properly illustrate the sequence. In the episode "To Love and Die in Dixie" (November 15, 2001), Povenmire drew on his childhood in the Deep South to create and sequence a background scene in which the redneck character nonchalantly kicks a corpse into the nearby river.  "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" (January 17, 2002), a Family Guy episode which Povenmire directed, won the Emmy Award for Best Song. Creator MacFarlane, the recipient of the award, noted that Povenmire deserved to have received the award for the contribution the visuals made to the episode's win. Povenmire jokingly responded "That's a nice sentiment and all, but did he offer to give me his? No! And it's not like he doesn't already have two of his own just sitting in his house!" Povenmire was nominated for an Annie Award for Directing in an Animated Television Production for the episode "PTV" (November 6, 2005) but lost out to a fellow Family Guy director Peter Shin, who had directed the episode "North by North Quahog". Povenmire and several others were also nominated for their work on "PTV" in the Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) category at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Povenmire also received the same nomination for "Road to Rhode Island."  During Family Guy's brief cancellation, Povenmire was offered a job as storyboard director of the series SpongeBob SquarePants. He wrote various musical numbers for the series, including "The Campfire Song Song" in "The Camping Episode" (April 3, 2004). CANNOTANSWER
Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" (January 17, 2002), a Family Guy episode which Povenmire directed, won the Emmy Award for Best Song.
Daniel Kingsley Povenmire (; born September 18, 1963) is an American animator, writer, director, producer, and voice actor. Povenmire is the co-creator of the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, in which he also voiced the character Heinz Doofenshmirtz in both series. In October 2020, Povenmire announced a new series for Disney Channel titled Hamster & Gretel.

Povenmire grew up in Mobile, Alabama, where he was an art student, and where he spent summers outdoors and making movies. Povenmire attended the University of South Alabama before deciding to pursue a film career and transferring to the University of Southern California.

Povenmire has been a long-time contributor to the animation business, working on several different animated television series such as Hey Arnold!, The Simpsons, Rocko's Modern Life, and SpongeBob SquarePants. He was a longtime director on the prime time series Family Guy, where he was nominated for an Annie Award in 2005. He left the series to create Phineas and Ferb with Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. Povenmire has been nominated for several awards for his work on the show, including a BAFTA, an Annie, two Emmy Awards. Following the success of Phineas and Ferb, he and Marsh created and produced a second show for Disney titled Milo Murphy's Law, which premiered in 2016. In 2020, the duo made a second Phineas and Ferb film, Candace Against the Universe.

Early life

Povenmire was born in San Diego, California on September 18, 1963 to Dianne (née Lee, born 1930) and Sanford Earl Povenmire (1921–1965), and grew up in the city of Mobile, Alabama. A child prodigy, he began drawing at age two; by the time he was ten, his work was displayed in local art shows. His first efforts in animation included a series of flip books that he produced in his school text books. As a child, Povenmire considered animator Chuck Jones his hero; in a 2009 interview, he stated that "every drawing he [Jones] did was beautiful to look at and had so much energy in it". Hayao Miyazaki was also an early influence.

Education

Povenmire received his secondary education at Shaw High School in Mobile. Initially, he attended the University of South Alabama, where he created his first popular comic strip, Life is a Fish, devoted to the life of Herman the goldfish and the college students he lives with. Povenmire also supported himself as a waiter and performer at a dinner theater. In 1985, he transferred to the University of Southern California (USC), planning to pursue a career in film.

Soon after arriving at USC, he pitched Life is a Fish to Mark Ordesky, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Trojan, the university newspaper. Ordesky first "basically brushed [him] off", but, after viewing Povenmire's portfolio, accepted the strip. Fish ran daily in the paper. Though the rapid pace left Povenmire afraid he was "running out of ideas", he never missed a deadline and made $14,000 a year through Fish merchandise, which included T-shirts, books, and calendars sold at the campus craft fair. The discipline of regular production also helped teach Povenmire to "represent something in the least amount of lines".

Career

Early works

Povenmire left USC without finishing the degree requirements, and used the money from Fish merchandise to fund a short-lived career as a street artist. His first professional animation commission came on the Tommy Chong project Far Out Man, for which Povenmire produced two minutes of animation. By age 24, Povenmire was freelancing on several animated television series, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 1989, he appeared in a small role as a band member in Adam Sandler's first film, Going Overboard.

The Simpsons
In the 1990s, Povenmire secured a job  as a character layout animator on the hit animated series The Simpsons. His desk placed him opposite Jeffrey Marsh, another up-and-coming animator. They shared similar tastes in humor and music, and later became colleagues on other projects.

Povenmire's experience, from both previous industry work and from his own projects, earned him respect at The Simpsons. He worked on layout animation and collaborated on storyboard production for the series, recalling later that staff were handed pages of production notes and instructed to "Do the [creative consultant] Brad Bird notes and any others that make sense." He maintained a side interest in film, writing scripts and the screenplay for a low-budget horror movie, Psycho Cop 2. The movie's producers offered Povenmire the opportunity to direct the film, but its terms required that he quit The Simpsons.  Povenmire chose to stay with The Simpsons, which he enjoyed and considered a better fit with his future ambitions. Rif Coogan ended up directing the picture instead.

Rocko's Modern Life

Work on The Simpsons involved an irregular schedule. The producers laid off the animation staff for two-to-three-month periods, and rehired the staff later in the production cycle. During one of these layoffs, Povenmire found a temporary job on the series Rocko's Modern Life, Nickelodeon's first in-house cartoon production. The show's creator, television newcomer Joe Murray, hired Povenmire solely on the strength of his Life is a Fish comic strips, which proved he could both write and draw.

Though Povenmire started on Rocko simply to occupy his downtime from The Simpsons, he found the greater creative freedom he enjoyed on his temporary job compelling, and quit The Simpsons to work on Rocko full-time. There, he reunited with Jeff Marsh, this time as a writing partner; Marsh claimed the crew hoped Povenmire's neatness would offset his own sloppy storyboarding. The pair developed a distinctive style characterized by characteristic musical numbers and chase scenes. Povenmire and Marsh won an Environmental Achievement Award for a 1996 Rocko episode they had written.

Family Guy
Povenmire later became a director on Family Guy, starting with the season two episode "Road to Rhode Island". Creator Seth MacFarlane granted Povenmire substantial creative freedom. Povenmire recalled that MacFarlane would tell him "We've got two minutes to fill. Give me some visual gags. Do whatever you want. I trust you." Povenmire praised MacFarlane's management style for letting him "have [...] fun."

Povenmire brought realism and material from his own experiences to the visual direction of Family Guy. For "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea" (August 1, 2001), several characters demonstrate Fosse-like moves in prison. To correctly depict the moves, Povenmire asked color artist Cynthia MacIntosh, who had been a professional dancer, to strike poses so he could properly illustrate the sequence. In the episode "To Love and Die in Dixie" (November 15, 2001), Povenmire drew on his childhood in the Deep South to create and sequence a background scene in which the redneck character nonchalantly kicks a corpse into the nearby river.

"Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows" (January 17, 2002), a Family Guy episode which Povenmire directed, won the Emmy Award for Best Song. Creator MacFarlane, the recipient of the award, noted that Povenmire deserved to have received the award for the contribution the visuals made to the episode's win. Povenmire jokingly responded "That's a nice sentiment and all, but did he offer to give me his? No! And it's not like he doesn't already have two of his own just sitting in his house!" Povenmire was nominated for an Annie Award for Directing in an Animated Television Production for the episode "PTV" (November 6, 2005) but lost out to a fellow Family Guy director, Peter Shin, who had directed the episode "North by North Quahog". Povenmire and several others were also nominated for their work on "PTV" in the Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) category at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Povenmire also received the same nomination for "Road to Rhode Island."

During Family Guys brief cancellation, Povenmire was offered a job as storyboard director of the series SpongeBob SquarePants. He also became a writer for the show, writing the season 2 episodes "Graveyard Shift", "The Fry Cook Games" and "Sandy, SpongeBob and the Worm", all of which premiered on Nickelodeon between 2001–2002. He also wrote "The Campfire Song Song" for the Season 3 episode "The Camping Episode", for which he was also a storyboard director on alongside Jay Lender (April 3, 2004).

Phineas and Ferb

In 1993, Povenmire and Marsh conceived the series Phineas and Ferb, based on their similar experiences of childhood summers spent outdoors.  Povenmire spent 14–16 years pitching Phineas and Ferb to several networks. Most rejected it as unfeasible for the complexity of its plots, but Povenmire persevered, later observing "It was really the show we wanted to see: if this was on the air, I'd watch it, and I don't always feel that about every show I work on." Even the Walt Disney Company initially rejected Povenmire's pitch, but asked to keep the proposal packet: "Usually that means they throw it in the trash later," Povenmire recalled.  Eventually Disney called Povenmire back with an acceptance, on the condition that he would produce an 11-minute pilot. He called Marsh, who was living in England, to ask him if he would like to work on the pilot; Marsh accepted immediately and moved back to the United States.

Instead of a conventional script, the pair pitched the pilot by recording reels of its storyboard, which Povenmire then mixed and dubbed to produce action and vocals. The network approved the show for a 26-episode season. As a result, Povenmire left Family Guy to create the series.

Povenmire and Marsh wanted to incorporate into Phineas and Ferb the kind of humor they had developed in their work on Rocko's Modern Life. They included action sequences and, with Disney's encouragement, featured musical numbers in every episode subsequent to "Flop Starz". Povenmire described the songs as his and Marsh's "jab at immortality", but the pair have earned two Emmy nominations for Phineas and Ferb songs to-date. A third Emmy nomination, for the episode "The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein" (2008), pitted the show against SpongeBob SquarePants, although neither nominee received the award due to a technicality. In 2010, Povenmire was nominated amongst several other Phineas and Ferb crew members for the Daytime Emmy Award for both "Outstanding Writing in Animation" and "Outstanding Original Song – Children’s and Animation" for their work on the show, winning for "Outstanding Writing in Animation". In 2021, Povenmire, among other writers, won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Writing Team for a Daytime Animated Program" for their film Candace Against the Universe.

The distinctive style of the animation legend Tex Avery influenced the show's artistic look. Like Avery, Povenmire employed geometric shapes to build both the characters and the background. The style developed almost accidentally, with Povenmire's first sketch of title character, Phineas Flynn, which he produced while eating dinner with his family in a restaurant in South Pasadena, California. He doodled a triangle-shaped child on the butcher paper covering the table. He was so taken with the sketch he tore it out, kept it, and used it as the prototype for Phineas and as the stylistic blueprint for the entire show.

Musical endeavors
During his college years, Povenmire had performed with a band that played at clubs and bars across Los Angeles, California. His current band, Keep Left, releases albums through Arizona University Recordings. Their second CD, Letters from Fielding, became available for download on aurec.com during 2004. They have an official website maintained and updated by artist Larry Stone. A 2004 email exchange about the website between Stone and Povenmire resulted in a "clever and twisted" series of comic strips drawn by the two, eventually moved to the website Badmouth.

TikTok 
Povenmire joined TikTok on November 26, 2019. Since then, he has amassed more than 5 million followers and 140 million likes. Povenmire often reacts to and interacts with young artists and creators, giving them advice and encouragement, while also providing behind-the-scenes information and debunking fan theories about his various projects, including Phineas and Ferb, Milo Murphy's Law and more.

Filmography

Films

Animation

Web series

Notes

References

External links

 
 
 
 

1963 births
Living people
Writers from San Diego
American television directors
American television writers
American male television writers
Television producers from California
Showrunners
American storyboard artists
American male voice actors
Male actors from San Diego
Writers from Mobile, Alabama
University of Southern California alumni
University of South Alabama alumni
Walt Disney Animation Studios people
American animated film directors
Screenwriters from Alabama
Screenwriters from California
Animators from Alabama
Nickelodeon people
Television producers from Alabama
Christopher Sheridan (born September 19, 1967) is an American television writer, producer, and occasional voice actor. Born in the Philippines, Sheridan grew up in New Hampshire. He attended Gilford High School, where he decided that he wanted to become a writer. After graduating from Union College, he moved back to his home, where he worked at several short-term jobs before relocating to California to start his career. His first job came in 1992 when he was hired as a writer's assistant for the Fox sitcom Shaky Ground. Following that, he was hired as an assistant on Living Single, a Fox sitcom, where he was eventually promoted to writer. He stayed with the show until its cancellation in 1998.

After the show was cancelled and Sheridan became unemployed, he began writing for the animated television series Family Guy. Although initially skeptical, he accepted the job as he did not have other options. Sheridan was one of the first writers hired, and has continued to write for the show through its eleventh season. For his work on Family Guy, he has been nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, a British Academy Television Award, and has won a DVD Exclusive Award. Sheridan has also written episodes of Titus and Yes, Dear. He has one daughter.

Early life
Christopher Sheridan was born on September 19, 1967, in the Philippines. He grew up in New Hampshire and attended Gilford High School. While there, Sheridan discovered he enjoyed writing, but had not considered a career in it. After graduating from the school in 1985, Sheridan went to Union College, where he majored in English and took every creative writing class available. After he met a person who had written a screenplay, Sheridan decided that he wanted to have a career in screenwriting.

After receiving his college degree in 1989, Sheridan returned to his home. He held various jobs, including substitute teaching, bartending, and working in his father's variety store. Sheridan eventually decided that if he wanted to establish a career, he had to relocate, so he moved to California in 1992. Sheridan stayed at a friend's house, and as he did not own a cell phone, he used a payphone located on Sunset Boulevard to call interested employers.

Career and later life
In 1992, Sheridan was hired as an assistant writer for the sitcom Shaky Ground. During his time on the show, he also worked elsewhere as a freelance writer. Following that show's cancellation in 1993, Sheridan was hired as an assistant on the show Living Single, where he wrote four episodes. Sheridan was promoted to writer, and worked on the show until it was cancelled in 1998. Shortly after, Sheridan received a call from his agent, where he was told that the only show with an open spot was Family Guy, which Sheridan did not want to do, thinking that writing for an animated show would end his career.

After meeting series creator Seth MacFarlane, Sheridan was hired as one of the series' first writers. The first episode he wrote was "I Never Met the Dead Man", the second episode of the first season, which premiered on April 11, 1999. Sheridan also wrote the second season premiere "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater." He later went on to write the episodes "I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar", "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'", "He's Too Sexy for His Fat",  and "Lethal Weapons".

Due to low ratings, Family Guy was cancelled at the end of its second season. While the show was on hiatus, Sheridan became a writer for the sitcom Titus and also wrote several episodes for the sitcom Yes, Dear. He returned to the show after it was revived for a fourth season, writing "The Fat Guy Strangler". Sheridan would later write the episodes "Peter's Daughter", "Peter-assment" and "Burning Down the Bayit". He penned the Road to... episode "Road to the North Pole" along with Danny Smith, and wrote the episode "Save the Clam". Sheridan continues to write for the show,  being the seventeenth season episode "Dead Dog Walking". Sheridan also infrequently provides voices for several small characters on the show, such as recurring character James William Bottomtooth III. In 2011, Sheridan wrote a television pilot entitled Lovelives for NBC. It was to star Ryan Hansen. Although a pilot was ordered and filmed, it did not continue.

Sheridan has received several nominations for awards for his work on Family Guy. At the 52nd Primetime Emmy Awards, Sheridan was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for writing the song "We Only Live to Kiss Your Ass." He wrote that "It was a strange experience at the Emmys ... my song was called, 'We Only Live to Kiss Your Ass.' I laughed out loud when the presenter had to list that song as one of the nominations alongside normal songs written by people like Marvin Hamlisch." Along with the other producers of the series, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2005 for "North by North Quahog" at the 57th Primetime Emmy Awards, and again in 2006 for "PTV" at the 58th. Also in 2006, Sheridan won a DVD Exclusive Award for writing the "Stewie B. Goode" segment of the Family Guy direct to video film Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. He shared the award with writer Gary Janetti. 2008 saw Sheridan receive another Outstanding Animated Program nomination, for "Blue Harvest", at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards. 2008 also saw him receive a nomination for a British Academy Television Award for Best International and in 2009 he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards; both awards were for Family Guy in general.

Sheridan splits his time between Los Angeles and Connecticut, and has a daughter. When asked if being a parent affected his style of humor, Sheridan responded that he found himself "a little less forgiving of pedophile jokes."

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

1967 births
Living people
American male screenwriters
American male voice actors
Union College (New York) alumni
Filipino emigrants to the United States
People from Gilford, New Hampshire
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Screenwriters from Connecticut
Screenwriters from New Hampshire Family Guy Online was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on the animated television series Family Guy, developed in a partnership between Canadian studio Roadhouse Interactive and 20th Century Fox. Family Guy Online was free-to-play using the Unity game engine. The game originally launched into public beta on April 17, 2012. On December 21, 2012 the developers announced that the game would not be developed beyond beta status and would be permanently shut down on January 18, 2013. The shutdown took place as announced, and the game is now closed. Until January 18, 2014, the game never left beta and the Family Guy Online website redirected to the Fox website for the show.

Gameplay

Family Guy Online used cel shaded graphics. The game used typical MMORPG character classes such as having Stewie act as a ranger, Peter as a tank, and Lois as a healer. Players would create their own character  using the Griffin family as a template. The actual characters from the show are reserved as non-playable characters (NPCs) in the game in order to give the player quests and advance the storyline (pictured). The NPCs in the game were voiced by the same voice actors in the show.

The game used two types of in-game currency: cash and clams. Clams are earned by completing in-game objectives.

Development
Family Guy Online was first revealed by 20th Century Fox through social media and through its official website on June 16, 2011, with initial plans to launch the game in autumn 2011. People wishing to join the beta phase for the game were invited to register on the website, although registration did not guarantee entrance into the beta. The game would use the Unity game engine to run within a user's web browser. IGN's Nick Kolan said that the game's use of cel shaded graphics showed potential for the game, but worried that it "could also be a total no-effort cash-cow."

Rather than licensing the rights to create a game based on the television series, Family Guy Online was developed directly by 20th Century Fox, in partnership with Roadhouse Interactive and Sleepy Giant Entertainment. The publisher of the game wanted it to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers, and to this end chose to make the game using the Unity engine instead of developing it as a game for Facebook.

The game was launched in 2012 and entered a public beta phase on April 17, 2012, but never moved out of beta. On December 21, 2012, an announcement posted on the Family Guy Online website stated that the game would be permanently closed on January 18, 2013. Real-money purchases that players had made within the 60 days prior to the announcement would be refunded to them.

References

External links 
  - Archived on December 25, 2012

Browser games
Massively multiplayer online games
Inactive massively multiplayer online games
Video games based on Family Guy
2012 video games
Products and services discontinued in 2013
Free-to-play video games
Video games developed in Canada
Video games set in Rhode Island